From maple syrup to glucose and fructose

 

Sucrose, the sugar of table sugar (and maple syrup!) is made of two monomers, one glucose monomer and one fructose monomer, both single sugars, which are joined to make a "dimer", or di[two]saccharide[sugars]. When more are added to the chain, building a long sugar chain such as cellulose, it is called a "poly[many]saccharide".

Of course maple sap is mostly water, as anyone knows who has stood over a pot trying to boil it down to syrup. There are also trace amounts of other compounds that give maple syrup its distinctive taste. The sweetness, however, is sucrose, in glucose and fructose forms.

Click on them to see glucose and fructose alone.